The present invention relates to methods for making controlled release devices for delivering synthetic pharmaceuticals to humans and animals and to the devices produced by these methods.
Numerous methods for making devices for the controlled release of pharmaceutical preparations into the human or animal body have been proposed. For example, it has been proposed to manufacture this type of device by using a tube of silicone elastomer, sealing one end of the tube with a composition of curable silicone, charging the tube with a composition containing the synthetic pharmaceutical agent, sealing the open end of the tube with a composition of curable silicone and then curing the silicone composition. Although the devices produced by this process are efficient as vehicles for administering phamaceutical agents, the method used to make them involves a large expenditure of time and effort.
We have now discovered that consistently high quality devices for the controlled release administration of synthetic pharmaceuticals can be prepared by a co-extrusion process.